


Reveled in Terror and Sugar

by CyrenKnight



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Hellhound!Sora, angelic messenger!Ventus, reaper!Roxas, shadow!Vanitas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrenKnight/pseuds/CyrenKnight
Summary: It's Halloween, which means double duty for Roxas and Sora. A soul is in the underworld that should't be there and there's something terrorizing locals in a cemetery, which means Sora's desire to crash a human party and eat all of their food with Roxas is going to have to be put on hold.





	Reveled in Terror and Sugar

**Author's Note:**

> For Avi~!

Limbo was a place in between, a place of forever and the finality all at the same time. The architecture was all refracted light like rain drops, the ground and sky tantalizing mosaic glass fragments. Limbo only existed so long as something else did, so long as there was something there to siphon from.

“And that concludes the briefing.” Naminé swiped the digital display in front of her away, the data showing up on her tablet that quickly faded to a black screen. She was a sunspot, a memory of warmth, a denzine of Limbo.

Roxas poked the hellhound on his lap in his ribs, forcing him to jolt awake with a snore, ears perked up as Naminé swiped the data on her tablet to Roxas’, it lighting up to indicate it received all of the necessary files. The soft white room and her gentle voice always put his hellhound to sleep without fail. It gave a wide yawn, a whine leaving him as Roxas scratched behind his ears. Kairi, Naminé’s arae companion, narrowed her eyes and smiled as if she intended to eat him, but it was a look of affection. Mostly.

“Got it.” Roxas stood up, forcing his hellhound to jump off of his lap. It came up to his waist as it followed at his heels, Roxas' boots clicking against the linoleum floor. He held the door open for it, the hellhound leaving dying embers in charcoal black scorch marks in its wake. It stretched his haunches before the doorway before walking through, then it pulled its human arm over his head, neck popping. Roxas let the door close behind them, already nose deep in digital files.

“That took foreverrr. Please tell me it was just lots of info to make our job quicker,” he begged, crown on his collar clinking, the XIII carved into it reflecting light in the hallway. 

“We got double duty today—sorry, Sora.” Roxas didn't look up from his tablet, brow furrowed in concentration as he swiped through files.

“Whaaaaat? No faaaiir. Can't Riku and Ritsu take one?” Sora following after Roxas clawed toes pressing against Roxas' heels. He wrapped his arms around his middle, chin on his shoulder, cheeks puffed out as he pouted. Riku was another reaper, Repliku a new age chimera companion built from a reaper’s memories, their shadow, and a human body. In theory it was a clone, but in actuality it was an eternal variation of every embarrassingly headstrong and stupidly heartfelt thing Riku had done when he was younger.

“Can't. They requested leave last _year_ and barely got it, let alone the request we put in two months ago. Halloween is always the busiest day of the year for us. It's barely started and the higher ups are already prepping for next year, you know that,” Roxas scolded, but reached behind himself to scratch Sora's head. Sora tipped his head back and groaned, Roxas taking his hand back. Sora had been on missions to the human world before, but Halloween was _ different_. Humans delighted and reveled in terror and sugar, Sora enraptured by humans' unusual desires.

He could comfortably interact with them and they'd all assume he was just skilled in human illusion called makeup and prosthetics. Smaller humans—children he'd learned they were called—would either hesitantly approach him or want to scare him, always eager to put their hands in his mouth to touch his teeth. He didn't mind since they tasted good, even if they weren't sticky fingered gluttons, but Roxas would always scold him for it. He didn't know where those children had been, they could make him sick, blah blah blah—it was like anytime he put plastic in his mouth but worse.

But, if he was going to go on a mission on Halloween, he at least hoped one of them was in the human world. He wanted free human treats like cupcakes and soda and black licorice and caramel and sour gummies—but not chocolate. That always made him sick. Roxas could have his chocolate.

“So, what are we doing?” he asked with a sigh, resigning himself to the lackluster tasks they were given.

“There's a soul in the Underworld who's not supposed to be there. It's pissing the Angelics off, so they're making us do it _ now_, as if traffic isn't gonna _ suck _going in and out of that place tonight of all nights. Then, there's something causing issues in a human town we need to look into.”

“Something! That's not vague or ominous at all!” Sora barked, Roxas snorting and lowering the tablet. Sora let go of Roxas, rushing in front of him to open the front door for him. Roxas' bike was parked out front, black as a city sky on a new moon.

“I know right?” Roxas turned the tablet off, twisting the corner of it on his fingertip like a diamond, it vanishing into black fog. “Like do your _ own _ investigation _ and _ capture while also being _ completely _ unprepared and _ exhausted _ from the priority one job.” He tipped his head back and grinding his teeth as if to silently cuss the Angelics out.

“Noooo! You didn't mention it was a priority one! That means it's gonna take all niiight! Are we even gonna get to the second mission today? Holy hell! Roxas, are we gonna have to go to—to hea—heeeaauuhhh…?” Sora couldn't even say heaven. “_Angelic territory_? Are we gonna have to do the search and rescue _ and _ escort for the first job? Can't we drop him out of the Underworld and bounce? Like if he pulls and Eurydice it's not our fault.”

“Relax,” Roxas reminded, scratching underneath Sora's chin. “I know you wanted to play tonight, but the quicker we find him the quicker we can drop him off, the quicker we can slack on our second mission. It hasn't killed anyone, just risking exposure.” Roxas sat himself on his bike, practically laying on it to properly hold the handlebars. Sora sat himself behind Roxas, rubbing his forehead back and forth against his spine while whining. “You do good on the first mission and I'll consider letting you crash a party while I do research for the second.”

“Kay!” Sora jerked up, ears alert. “I'll do _ so _ good! I'll be the _ goodest_! The _ best_!” he insisted, wrapping his arms around Roxas' middle as he turned the bike on, knocking up the kickstand.

“Even at your worst, you're always a good boy, Sora,” Roxas praised.

“_ Hell _ yeah! I'm the best boy!” Sora cheered in agreement, Roxas snickering at his hellhound's enthusiasm. He revved his bike, Sora howling in reply, Roxas’ bike growling right back. The tires squealed, the bike raring off into a veil. It parted like a sheer curtain of cloud mist, overcast to hide the brilliance behind it that was Limbo.

They flew through trees, Roxas’ bike intangible and making the riders the same, Roxas not bothering to avoid anything. He did give a comfortable swerve back and forth, Sora letting out a laugh, then another howl. On Halloween, it was easier to take a shortcut through the human world than it was to take any of the usual ways, which would be overcrowded and require he wait at the gate lines, regardless of mission priority since the expedited line was always just as long as the regular line.

Roxas didn’t miss the chaos of grunt work one bit. There was _ so _much paperwork involved with letting the dead out for a night, those who weren’t allowed to take an extended leave, the groups that tried to force themselves through the gates, those who were to be reincarnated pursuing expecting families, those who were looking for bodies to possess, then those who didn’t come back—it was tiresome. He definitely preferred more hands on work like this and he wouldn’t trade working with Sora for the world.

Roxas had gone through twelve other companions before he got to Sora. Either they didn’t like him or he didn’t like them, or they were going to kill each other or unfortunately their target. So Roxas stopped picking his companions and let his companion pick him. He hadn’t even named Sora, just giving him a tag with the number XIII, expecting him to be just that in his head—another number.

At first Roxas thought Sora was going to be like IX or VIII, but Sora was different. He was a little headstrong and eager to please, but he listened when it mattered. His goal wasn’t ever the mission they were given, but to please Roxas. He delighted in making his dead-eyed partner smile, in covering him in hellhound kisses, in earning them days off because of their good work. His loyalty, unlike IV, VI, XI, and XII’s, didn’t waver. He wanted to be by Roxas’ side, no matter what he was offered by other reapers.

Roxas always felt with all of his other companions, aside from I, II, III, and V, that he was always doing the work of three people. He didn’t mind adjusting his skill level down to Sora’s since it was more than sufficient and let Roxas relax. Roxas couldn’t help but adore him, wanting to put forth the same calescent energy Sora gave in their partnership. If Sora was ever in a position that required it, Roxas was more than willing to make up the difference in their strength. Even with their second mission, Roxas was more than willing to let him go play with humans if it made him happy.

Roxas’ bike shoved itself through a veil between the rocks, a heavy curtain as they passed through, Roxas’ bike heaving before throwing itself off of a ledge. Sora squeezed around his middle so tight Roxas felt a rib creak, threatening to break.

“Roxas—!”

“Ah, _ hell._”

Roxas had resigned himself to his fate with those two words. There was no graceful landing and no turning around. They were going to crash and it was going to hurt. They were weightless, blissful for just a moment—then his bike slammed down into the ground, knocking the wind out of both of them as the recoil forced them both up off of the seat.

Sora unclenched his legs from around the bike, tugging Roxas back as the bike ricochet forward from the speed of their entry and slammed into the Lethe train so hard they would have been shot through the windows. Roxas was tucked against hellhound fur, rolling until they also slammed into the train. The tires of his bike spun just like Roxas’ head, unaware Sora had already started licking at his face until the third go around.

“M’good—I’m fine,” he reassured, pulling away from Sora. A little dizzy, but fine. “You?” Sora whimpered, shaking off his hellhound form. 

“Can’t breathe, one sec.” Sora wheezed. Roxas nodded, faceless silhouettes peered through the traincar windows to see what happened. Skid marks from tires and burns from Sora scarred the ground. Sora whined, needy as ever as he put his head in Roxas’ lap. Roxas knotted his hands in his hair, listening to the dead's murmurs.

“I know they said they were reworking things down here, but a sign would have really been nice.” Roxas grunted.

“Well maybe if you’d come in the way you were supposed to, you wouldn’t have caused a scene.” The train doors opened, an unfortunately familiar man stepping out.

“Kind of sort of in a rush. Priority one from Angelics and all that.” Roxas stood up, only to give a bow of his head to Xehanort. Xehanort grunted in disgust, Roxas not looking up.

“Why are you running the Lethe train? I thought you’d have better things to do tonight.” Sora hadn’t so much as dipped his head, holding his ankles together as he spoke casually, disrespectfully to him. Roxas tried not to smirk. Xehanort got under his skin and on his nerves, even if Roxas was clearly a favorite among the reapers given Xehanort had given Roxas his first companion, a personal one he’d trained since it was wrought into existence. Roxas always felt like he had to remind I who was the leader in that relationship, so he ended up having to give him back.

“Such as?” He croaked, Roxas knowing bait when he saw it. Roxas raised his head.

“He’s just used to seeing higher ups leave menial tasks in the hands of others while they handle more important work. I mean seeing as you own the place, it was probably just a shock. But we won’t keep you.” Roxas picked up his bike, Sora popping up like a loaded spring.

“What task has been forced upon you tonight of all nights by Eraqus?”

“Looking for someone that’s not supposed to be down here. All we have is a name.” Roxas knew it was implied complaining. No photo, no scent, no life thread.

“I’m assuming you’re going to reception?” Xehanort asked, not offering any sort of help. Roxas should have known better, but it was worth a shot.

“Unless you know exactly where a Ventus Caelum is.”

Xehanort’s nose wrinkled, as if he had smelled something foul. “I do, actually and would be rather pleased if you removed him. He won’t be hard to miss—terrorizing the dead and all of that.” Xehanort gave a wave of his hand, turning back to the Lethe train.

“Riiight. Like everything else down here doesn’t before they acclimated.” Sora reminded, Roxas lightly nudging him in the ribs, but turning to hide a smirk. Sora grabbed for his elbow, Roxas nudging him again before they stopped playing around.

“Mind your words when you speak to people,” Xehanort warned.

“He’s still a puppy,” Roxas defended. “He’s still learning, he’ll get there.” Roxas hoped Sora _ never _got there. He’d be bored out of his mind otherwise. Xehanort narrowed his eyes at the pair, but then boarded the train, leaving them on their own. They watched the train pull away in a terrorizing scream of steam and souls, vanishing into ether.

“Well. That was helpful.” Roxas gave Sora a sarcastic smile, who snickered into his shoulder. “Come on,” Roxas prompted, slinging his leg over his bike. “Let’s go find someone who’s terrorizing the locals.”

“You know you’d think if he was causing problems and he wanted him gone so badly he’d be more helpful.” Sora sat himself behind Roxas, arms around his middle again.

“Yeah, but then that means Eraqus gets his way sooner and you _ know _how much he hates that.”

“_Do _ I know that? I am but a puppy,” Sora teased with a grin so wide it made his eyes narrow, Roxas snorting and leaning over his bike for a moment.

“Well, let’s get started. Think reception will actually be helpful or should we just start checking districts?”

“Given this place is built like a scattered bucket of legos?” The design was terrible. Where ever anything fit, it went. New shops or housing would show up, pressed into an unreasonable space. Roads would come to deadends or fork when they shouldn’t, railways and subways twisted in on themselves in endless loops above and below the city. It was sprawling pandemonium that could never be corrected—they loved it.

“Districts it is!” Roxas cheered, his bike fishtailing as the tires squealed, Sora howling in excitement as the bike drove right into the railways, Roxas lifting his feet as his bike gave absurd bounces with every track.

They both let out obnoxious laughs that echoed in the tunnels, at the very least going to enjoy their search if it was bound to take all night. Roxas decided to keep an eye out for that pudding place they found once and could never find again, but if it wasn’t to die for—again.

“Do you think they’d find it funny or annoying if we popped into some places and said trick or treat?” Sora asked as the bike flew past a fountain that spit black water. Humans had somehow gotten their hands on it in their world too, both tasting terrible from all of the vitamins in it.

“Depends. I know that fish place would probably toss you something.” Roxas offered, a soul shrieking and blocking their arms, Roxas and Sora flying right through them. Roxas looked over his shoulder with a wide grin, watching them pat themselves down before looking back on the road.

“They always throw it _ at _me.” Sora reminded.

“Ah, but we get fish.” Roxas’ eyes flickered over to Sora, who couldn’t help but give him a wide grin.

“Trick or treat!” They screamed as Roxas veered his bike into buildings, terrifying patrons of a bar out of their seats. Sora let out a howl, Roxas snickering and leaning down to snatch a bowl of snap peas off of the bar counter they were riding on.

“Yes?” Roxas asked, holding the bowl out to him.

“Ew, no!” Sora smacked the bowl from his hands, Roxas snickering as they drove through another building.

“Trick or treat!” They screamed as Roxas drove the bike into a building that resembled a classroom.

“Do a trick!” A kid screamed back.

Roxas and Sora glanced at one another, matching grins. Roxas let go of the handlebars, jumping up to press his feet to the seat of his bike as Sora pushed himself farther back onto the bike to get out of his way. He did a dorky little dance before they vanished through a wall, Roxas dropping back down onto his bike as the kids cheered from the other room.

“Trick or treat!” They screamed as they flew through another plaza, Roxas’ smiling dropping as he locked eyes with eyes his exact shade of electric blue. _ Various _eyes the same electric blue, buried in a crowd of souls.

He slammed on the breaks, Sora lurching forward, but clinging onto Roxas all the same.

“He’s a _ messenger_—ah, _ hell._” Roxas groaned. Reapers had angelic counterparts called messengers, both being brought into existence at the same time. Thankfully, if one perished, the other was only cursed to die soon after, but curses could be broken. And messengers could unfortunately end up in the Underworld, even if they weren’t dead. A messenger in the Underworld _ was _bound to upset things.

After all, people yearned for the boring grid-system of normalcy where gods resided rather than to forever interact with human souls for eternity, be it in the Underworld or in the human world. They might assume the Underworld was heaven or bother the messenger to bring them if not outright hurt him.

“Does that count as the ‘or’ bit?” Sora asked, mouth pressed to Roxas’ shoulder.

“For sure.” Roxas mumbled back. “Hey! You! Yeah, angel-face! You Ventus?” Roxas called out to the holy thing before them. He was perfect skin that quite literally had an ethereal glow to it. Down feathers covered its arms and legs like baby hairs while eyes covered its entire skull, wearing nothing and devoid of any tells of gender despite not wearing pants.

“Oh, yes.” When it spoke, its voice sounded like a sigh, its feathers were ruffled by an absent breeze. Roxas knocked the kickstand out of his bike, sliding off of it and approaching. Sora hung back, putting his weight on his arms behind himself.

“I’m your escort.” Roxas introduced, offering a lanky arm with exposed bone.

“And my counterpart—what an exquisite and rare encounter! We don’t usually get to meet! Wait till I tell Aqua!” The messenger took his hand in both of his wings, squeezing as if he had no sensation—he probably didn’t. Roxas couldn’t help but wonder if he plucked his arms if he’d have chicken wing arms.

“Yeah, yeah cool nice, but my hellhound has a date with human junk food and I’m trying really hard to make sure he still makes it.” Roxas took his hand back to thumb over his shoulder at Sora, who gave him a wide wave.

“Junk food?” Ventus repeated, tipping his head, some of his eyes on Sora, some on Roxas.

“Yeah, candy and sugary stuff that makes humans’ teeth rot. He really likes the stuff and this is like his _ favorite _ human holiday. Yeah there’s junk food in December but it’s usually like…you know, _ holy._”

“Oh, I understand! Well don’t let me keep you.”

“Oh, no! Roxas, he’s an idiot!” Sora whined, Roxas clearly getting the brain cell when they were both brought into existence.

“We can’t until you get brought back.” Roxas reminded.

“Do you mind if I look at the specifics of your quest?” Quest. How _ noble_ sounding. Sora pretended to gag, making Roxas grin. He pulled his tablet out from the shadows and offered it to Ventus, who scrolled through each file in seconds. “You know, I work really well with technicalities.” He offered the tablet back, Roxas twisting it like a diamond on his finger once more. “You _ could _ bring me along and _ then _bring me home.”

Roxas paused, narrowing his eyes at his counterpart. “…Question—why were you down here in the first place?”

“Oh humans get very excited about holidays! I’m usually working in winter and the rest are somewhat lackluster compared to the ones at the end of the year. I wanted to see one, but I got lost.” Ventus explained, souls steering clear of him or gathering in the growing crowd to stare in awe.

“You know what, as my counterpart, totally valid.” Roxas gave an approving nod and turned to Sora. “Think we could get away with it?”

“With stealing a messenger for a few hours or with humans thinking its a costume?” Sora asked, tipping his head over the edge of the bike, folding his hands over his chest.

“Both.”

“Oh, for sure.” Sora gave Ventus a wide grin as he twisted himself around to lie on his stomach. “Come on feather-butt! Let’s go get you pants and then crash a costume party!”

Roxas usher him along to his bike, Ventus holding his wings in front of his chest. “I don’t think it’s physically possible to crash a party. A party is a—”

“Shhh, shut up.” Roxas let him go, sitting himself on his bike while Sora snickered and tugged Ventus onto the bike, looping his arms around his neck.

“That’s not what that means. We’re gonna show up uninvited and eat all of their junk food. And a few rules! No flying, if anyone asks you’re in a costume, and some other third thing when I think of it. Oh, do you have a mouth?”

“No, I don’t have any need for any sort of orifice.” Ventus informed him.

“Sora—” Roxas tried to stop him.

“He can’t eat _ or _ poop! Holy hell, that’s so _ sad _ ! Do you know how nice it is to sit on the toilet for like fifteen minutes and just _ poop _, dude?!” Sora whined in dismay. Roxas snorted, pressing his hand to his mouth. Well. That was better than what he was thinking. Sora was a hellhound after all, he should have expected as much.

Roxas knocked his kickstand back into place, calling over his shoulder, “Hold on.”

“Like there’s so much relief in like having held a pee for like, _ ever _ and then _ finally _getting to pee! You’ll never know the relief of peeing!” Sora rambled on as Roxas’ bike jerked forward. “Roxas this is so sad—what’s that one human meme where you have your computer play the song? Roxas—fuck!” Sora grabbed for the bike seat, Roxas snickering.

“You want Alexa to play you Despacito?” Roxas called over his shoulder as he tried to remember where the nearest exit was that would take them to the town they needed to inspect.

“Yes!_That! _ Thank you!” Sora’s tail wagged, feet wiggled.

“We could always play Turn the Lights Off by Tally Hall instead. It’s very modern Monster Mash energy.” Roxas offered, veering sharply to the right so the side of the bike almost touched the ground. He’d almost missed their turn with that new sushi place taking up such a huge part of the alleyway.

“Is this a serious conversation or is he picking on me?” Ventus asked Roxas.

“You tell me.” Roxas replied, clearly picking on him. Roxas, not having learned his lesson from earlier, refused to slow down as he approached the veil that would lead him back to the human world, flying through it with a wild grin. Ventus flinched, but didn’t attempt to fly or remove himself from Roxas’ bike.

“I’m being serious!” Sora whined.

“He’s a hellhound, he’s just like that.” Roxas reassured, his bike sliding to the side as he came to a stop, feet resting on the ground. He pulled out his tablet, Sora leaning over one shoulder, Ventus over the other. Roxas pulled up a map of disturbances Naminé had made up for him, realizing they were mostly localized around a cemetary. The safe assumption would have been a soul, but given they didn’t specify, that meant there had been indicators from other reports that would contradict that.

“If you want to look for a nearby party, I can look into this.” Roxas offered as Sora turned himself around, looping his arms around his middle. Ventus didn’t hold onto him, but didn’t seem fazed at the concept of being flung from his motorcycle if Roxas needed to drive.

“Nah, it’s cool. I wanna go, but I wanna go with you.” Roxas paused, looking over his shoulder at Sora, a flush on his face and a smile. That was so sweet of him. “—I also don’t trust myself to make sure Ventus doesn’t do anything that would get us in trouble if I’m waiting for you.” The flush was gone, Roxas bursting into laughter.

“Fair point.” He reached over his shoulder to scratch Sora’s ears, Sora giving a wide grin. “Normally cemeteries would be empty at this hour, but it’s not unusual for younger locals to break into them to play games and attempt to contact spirits.”

“How do you go about removing the humans to deal with the Other-Being?” Ventus asked, crossing his legs, not having blinked once since they’d picked him up.

“Give ‘em what they ask for.” Roxas gave Ventus a wide grin, Sora doing the same, all fangs and anticipation. “They don’t _ really _believe they saw something otherworldly. Humans are always quick to rationalize things.”

Sora slid off of the bike, shaking his fur out until he was down on all fours, as high as Roxas’ bike. Roxas reached over and scratched behind his ears, holding his collar. He looked up at Roxas, waiting…waiting…his tail wagged, the tablet propped up on Roxas’ bike as he looked at a map.

“Looks like there’s three lives there, look to be attached to bodies…everything is implying they’re human.” Roxas put his tablet away, looking down at Sora. “Ready? Yeah? Gonna go terrorize some humans so we can work then go steal their junkfood?” He asked in his best puppy-talk voice, Sora’s tail thumping against his bike. “Ready to torment them with a messenger? Yeah, is that exciting? Yeah, yeah? Yeah? _ Go!_” Roxas let his collar go, Sora darting off like a bullet. Roxas’ tires screeched against the pavement, then he shot off after his hellhound, Ventus sitting side-saddle on his bike, but not flying off.

Hellhound baying was spine tingling, soul shattering. 

“I’m going to admit, I’ve never done anything like this.” Ventus spoke softly, almost as if he was scared of scaring humans.

“All work and no play makes for an agitated hellhound. It gives humans something to talk about, no one gets hurt, it’s cool,” Roxas reassured. “You won’t get in trouble for it.” If anyone was going to get in trouble, it was Roxas and Sora for taking Ventus with them to do this over taking him home, but if Ventus wasn’t satisfied with his investigation, he’d just end up coming back next year.

Sora got to the humans before Roxas, which was expected. Roxas was a backup in case they thought he was just some big dog in a costume. The trio’s shrieking could be heard before they were seen, two boys and one girl.

“I told you this was a bad idea, Pence!” One of the boys screamed, Sora howling again.

“Okay fine! Bad idea, I admit it! How the _ heck _can Olette run that fast—wait for us!”

Hellhound baying turned into giggles, Sora holding his stomach as Roxas parked his bike next to him. “You should have seen their faces! Oh man! Roxas, they were so fun!” Roxas gave him a wide grin, Ventus staying on the bike as Roxas got off.

“Alrighty, lets see what we got here so we can get you to a party. Olly olly oxen free whatever the hell you are!” Roxas called out. Nothing stirred among the graveyard, which was unusual given it was Halloween. “Come on, we don’t have all night! We already wasted half of it—”

Ventus was sent flying off of the bike, wings smattering with dirt.

“A reaper, a hellhound, and a messenger—interesting group!” Came a sarcastic voice, a shadow resting all of its weight on Ventus.

“Off, now.” Roxas narrowed his eyes, realizing if Ventus got hurt, that would very much be on them.

“Or what?” The shadow shot back, giving a bored look over its shoulder, yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. Roxas pulled a pen out of shadow, giving it a click. A pentip came out. “Ohhh, so scary!” Sora didn’t know if he should laugh or feel embarrassed for Roxas.

“Wrong one.” Roxas flicked it back up into the darkness, trading it for another pen. He clicked it, the pen sounding like a sword being pulled from its sheath. A scythe expanded from it, Roxas aiming it at the shadow in a challenge.

“Wait,” Ventus requested as he sat up. He held either side of the shadows face, unphased by its aggressive demeanor. The illumination from his skin as he leaned forward gave the shadow more features—Roxas lowered his scythe. “Doesn’t this look like Sora?”

“_Sora,_” Roxas scolded, looking at his hellhound. Sora glanced behind him, then spun around as if trying to catch his tail.

“Oops.” Sora’s ears lowered onto his head.

The thing in the graveyard had been Sora’s shadow, a nasty thing that was rather rude and by all intents and purposes, outwardly the opposite at Sora, but still him in his core. The double duty for tonight made sense now—of course they’d be sent to clean up their own messes as well as ones related to them.

“How did you not notice it was missing!”

“I dunno, I thought he was asleep! He’d been quiet all week!” Sora objected, as if his shadow was ever quiet for more than a few hours.

“Hands off, feather fuck!” Sora’s shadow snapped, yanking himself away from Ventus.

“You touched me first.” Ventus reminded, grabbing for his face again. Ventus didn’t need a human face for Roxas to realize what he was thinking.

“No—_ no_, stop looking at it like that. It’d cause you so many problems—do messengers even _ get _companions?”

“We can, but it isn’t a requirement like it is for Underworld or Limbo workers.” He explained, the shadow still struggling and trying to pull away from him, but Ventus was deadset on trying to hold him now.

“Wouldn’t you get like some holy book or something? A scroll? What would you even do with a hellhound shadow?”

“What do you do with a hellhound?” Ventus asked, Sora’s shadow twisting and taking its hellhound form to kick Ventus off and rush to hide behind Sora.

It growled at him, Sora rolling his eyes. “That’s what you get! If you’d have stayed where you were supposed to, you wouldn’t be being bothered by Ventus.”

“Depends on the hellhound, but usually take them for walks and feed them their weight in food.” Roxas explained.

“Does it have a name?” Ventus asked, excited like a baby bird as he practically hoped from one foot to another while he tried to find a way around Sora to get to his shadow.

“Vanitas,” Roxas grunted in disdain. “Seriously, you don’t want him. He always runs off, will tear stuff up and try to blame it on Sora.”

“You’re not saying you wouldn’t give him to me.” Ventus called them out, jumping up to try to divebomb onto Vanitas. Vanitas rushed off into the graveyard, Ventus tipping his head at him. He hopped up onto a headstone, practically playing a game with Vanitas.

“…I mean,” Sora paused, looking over at Roxas. It was unusual to see Vanitas being terrorized over doing the terrorizing. “Vanitas would have to be okay with it.”

“We could always see if he wanted to be a chimera like Ritsu. He wouldn’t be required to come home then, but you wouldn’t have a shadow.” Roxas offered, Vanitas screaming and cursing and struggling to get out of Ventus’ wings.

“I mean, I’d be okay with it as long as Vanitas was happy and being well taken care of. It looks like Ventus would do a good job, but I also don’t know how it works up there and if it would hurt Vani to be there. He’d probably be kept in line better.”

“Threatened by affection—who’d have thought.” Roxas snickered as Vanitas snarled and tried to bite at Ventus, who didn’t so much as flinch when his fangs sunk into his feathers. “We could always do a kind of trial period.”

“Sounds fine to me. Hey! You guys wanna find a human party or what?!” Sora called out to them.

“Get this thing away from me!” Vanitas shrieked, vanishing into the ground and only popping back up into the physical realm behind Sora. “It’s trying to kill me!”

“He’s trying to hug you, Vani. You know, the thing you’ll never let me do?” Sora reminded with a sarcastically raised eyebrow. Vanitas blew a raspberry right in Sora’s face, covering him in spit.

“Vanitas be nice to Sora or we’ll leave you with Ventus all night.”

“You’re a bastard.” Vanitas snapped at him. “I’m still mad Sora picked you. Piece of shi—”

“I’m gonna find us a party. You earned it Sora, you did really good tonight and were very well behaved.”

“I was a good boy?!” Sora asked, throwing his arms around Roxas’ neck and abandoning Vanitas. He was on guard, staring at Ventus, who was perched in a tree right above him.

“The best, as always.” Roxas praised, petting his head. “Let’s go get you some well earned junk food.”


End file.
